Author Topic: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?  (Read 12629 times)

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archangel.arcanis

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #40 on: October 11, 2010, 03:13:31 PM »
I've stuck with 3.5.  Nothing personal against 4e, but I kinda like the screwy ways of 3.5.  And the fact that I already own over $100 in books in 3.5.  I've yet to meet a 4e, player on my campus;  which is funny, as all the players I've recruited so far are either new, or are big believers in the 3.5 way of things.  So, I've yet to see 4e's popularity.

I would like WotC to just let 3.5 be completely free, so that I can get all the content on d20srd.org (does 4e have anything similiar>).
They will never let the old stuff be free because that would make even more competition for 4e. They do have something for 4e it is their subscription service, so you can't just reference the basics for free anymore. They got pissed about the SRD because it lead to their product being good for other people who didn't inflate the cost of books and actually made some decent stuff.
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veekie

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #41 on: October 11, 2010, 03:46:06 PM »
Yeah, Paizo went the opposite direction instead, putting up a comprehensive, well indexed PFRD that's mostly maintained by their fans anyway. Even stuff from the Advanced Players' Guide made it in. We'll see how the two ways of treating your customers work out.
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Sinfire Titan

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #42 on: October 11, 2010, 09:16:13 PM »
I would like WotC to just let 3.5 be completely free, so that I can get all the content on d20srd.org (does 4e have anything similiar>).

This would require someone to purchase the rights to 3.X's legal stuff (copyrights, etc). I highly doubt WotC would agree to sell it completely (as there is too much good stuff for them to just throw it out), but if someone were to put stipulations in the purchase that allowed WotC to use content from 3.X without needing to ask I'm sure they would compromise.

We all ready have the SRD (which is the ELH, XPH, Gods and Demigods, PHB, MM, and DMG). We just need to convince them to release the other splatbooks to the public (since what good does having the publishing rights to something like the ToM do them if they aren't publishing it anymore?). They can keep most of the campaign setting stuff (though it would be nice if they let us have the ECS).


The only way I can see this happening is if enough people pool cash and talk to WotC directly. It would likely take more than BG and GiantITP combined to get enough money though, and there is no way to entrust a single person to this task unless they have really good PR.


[spoiler][/spoiler]

veekie

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #43 on: October 12, 2010, 06:35:32 PM »
They'd never do it, Pathfinder aside, the biggest threat to 4E is still 3.5, reviving it, especially under another company's name would be suicide.
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

dither

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #44 on: October 13, 2010, 11:09:53 PM »
I've been playing in a 4e game for months now, and it's clearly the next step up from 3.x.

The skill system needs more polish, but we'll probably see a better one in 5th edition.

4e streamlines combat enough that I was able to get about 2 encounters per hour and still have time for exploration and roleplaying for a total of 10 encounters in 5 hours. I'd be lucky to get half that with 3.x on the best of days. Parcel system for treasure is excellent. Equipment is no longer more important than class features or character abilities, which is a plus for me.

I'd actually like to see a little more interaction between powers and equipment, like sword-, axe-, and hammer-specific powers, for instance. Fighter doesn't need all weapons, he could just be the two-hander guy. Leave the dual-wielding to the ranger. Leave the one-handed weapon tricks to the rogue.

The key to 4e is memorization and practice, and it takes less time to master than 3.x does.
"Stuck between a rogue and a bard place."

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archangel.arcanis

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #45 on: October 26, 2010, 01:37:15 PM »
I've been playing in a 4e game for months now, and it's clearly the next step up from 3.x.

The skill system needs more polish, but we'll probably see a better one in 5th edition.

4e streamlines combat enough that I was able to get about 2 encounters per hour and still have time for exploration and roleplaying for a total of 10 encounters in 5 hours. I'd be lucky to get half that with 3.x on the best of days. Parcel system for treasure is excellent. Equipment is no longer more important than class features or character abilities, which is a plus for me.

I'd actually like to see a little more interaction between powers and equipment, like sword-, axe-, and hammer-specific powers, for instance. Fighter doesn't need all weapons, he could just be the two-hander guy. Leave the dual-wielding to the ranger. Leave the one-handed weapon tricks to the rogue.

The key to 4e is memorization and practice, and it takes less time to master than 3.x does.
Interesting. I do agree some powers need to be weapon, or at least weapon group, specific. I've always had a problem with the parcel system for treasure as it seems to make it more work for the DM to figure out what the players want and place it there. It also makes it harder on players who use rituals or upgrade items frequently, as many have shown the math for it actually makes the characters weaker due to loosing something like 15% of their wealth.
Clerics and Druids are like the 4 and 2 in 42. Together they are the answer to the ultimate question in D&D.
Retire the character before the DM smacks you with the Table as the book will feel totally inadequate now.-Hazren

dither

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Re: 4e's been out a year. What do you think?
« Reply #46 on: October 27, 2010, 05:27:53 PM »
Interesting. I do agree some powers need to be weapon, or at least weapon group, specific. I've always had a problem with the parcel system for treasure as it seems to make it more work for the DM to figure out what the players want and place it there. It also makes it harder on players who use rituals or upgrade items frequently, as many have shown the math for it actually makes the characters weaker due to loosing something like 15% of their wealth.

Gold seems like fluff to me. When all you really need from the items are +X for your level and +Xd6 for your critical hits, plus a random daily- or encounter- utility power that you can't get from your class or a feat -- the parcel system gives you pretty much what you need. :/

As long as you're fighting enemies +/- your level (one or two levels in either direction), there's little need for anything beside your powers and the local item bonuses. Hell, you can cut items out entirely and go with inherent bonuses as an option in the character builder (forget which DMG it was in). Sure, you miss out on random utility power X, but it works if you don't want to sort through a bunch of crap magic items.

Of course, this nearly all depends on your party having a fairly even mix of character types, reasonably competent tactics, and a DM who isn't out to get you. The other players in the game I'm in are semi-competent, but some refuse to read the fucking rules, and we still get through just fine. Our party has fluctuated a little bit, but we've nearly always had at least 2 strikers and 1 controller.

We're now at 4 strikers and 2 controllers, and I love to think about how much better we'd do if we had on genuine leader or defender in the party. Just. One. From the various groups I've seen in play, most people want to play strikers. Almost across the board. They're almost all Rangers and Rogues. The one other guy I saw trying out a wizard got pissed that he didn't do enough damage and switched to Sorcerer. I don't see many people play other classes, even Fighter. :/

The Warden gives out so many temporary hit points, it's a crazy-awesome defender/leader hybrid. You could have one of those teamed up with almost anything else and they'd never die. The dwarven Paladin was obviously intended to be immortal, because he gets ridiculously high hit points, healing surges, and assuming the normal 4-6 round combat, can heal every round if he needs to. *shakes head*

My wizard/cleric generally uses one healing power per combat, on one person to prevent them from dropping unconscious. We rarely see much healing in combat -- mostly during short rests between encounters.
"Stuck between a rogue and a bard place."

vanity
Read my webcomic!
Dither's Amazing Changing Avatars

[spoiler]
Quote from: Shadowhunter
Quote from: Flay Crimsonwind
"Vegeta! What does the scouter say about Dither's power level?"
It's over nine thousand!

Quote from: Bauglir
Quote from: Anklebite
Quote from: dither
Well blow me down! :P
A SECTION OF THE CAVERN HAS COLLAPSED!
dither, Miner, has died after colliding with an obstacle!
[/spoiler]